The sweet-spot 5" Freestyle Part 1: Component Choice

I have decided to piece together a bang for your buck freestyle build to coincide with the summer in the Northern Hemisphere. My objective for this build was not to build the cheapest quad but the best value. This means parts will be from recognised brands with a good track record of performance and reliability with a good degree of future proofing. To be clear, this is not a $99 build, it is more like $150-$170 but will be more reliable AND outperform any pre-built quad and will easily hold it's own against something double or triple the price - I like to think of it as the Sweet Spot.

This Sweet Spot Quad will be split into 3 parts:

1. Component Choice (this article) 
2. The Build
3. The Review and Recommendations. Update: now completed

I've chosen to build this as a 6s but going 4s is simply a case of choosing the higher kV motor variant and retaining the overhead if you decide to upgrade to 6s in future.

For each key component I'll show you what I chose, a cheaper option and a more premium option with price indication and justification. Let's get straight into it!!

All the things!

 Motors

This was the first and easiest part I chose - the new Emax ECO 2207/2306 at $10-12 each. These are simply outstanding value for money. They have the legendary Emax heritage, 9mm bearings (a big upgrade over the more expensive RSII and LS series) are relatively lightweight and are available in 1700 and 2400kV variants, suitable for 6s or 4s respectively. Magnets are not as strong as some motors but this is ideal for freestyle where smoothness and efficiency improves greatly at only a small cost to brute force. I've chosen 2306 because I think these are better suited to freestyle (2207 for racing)

Budget option: No change, would stick with the Emax Eco

Premium option: Brother Hobby Returner R6 2306 at $20-$25. Only a minor step up in power but double the price.

Flight Controller/ESC

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